urge parliamentary scrutiny of the state within a state of the Khakis, especially the dreaded spy agency (DGFI). The interference of the Khakis into state politics will once again jeopardize institutionalization of elective democracy, good governance and secularism. The rogues fear social justice activists, critics, politicians and journalists too - Joy Manush!

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Bangladesh's 'Pakistani' party Jamaat-e-Islami

Caption: Activist at Shahbagh Square holding a sign which says "Religion is individual, county is ours"

The signs are there
all over Dhaka. If it's not blatant demands to
"hang the war criminals" in posters and billboards surrounding Shahbagh Square
where Bangladesh
erupted on February 5, there are murals depicting demonic Islamist
fundamentalists on the outside wall of Dhaka Art

Along the main
thoroughfare of Panthapath in central Dhaka, across the giant Infinity Mega
Mall - where last Friday ambulances zipped by carrying those injured in clashes
with the police - a billboard advertising the ATM services of the Islami Bank
Bangladesh Ltd carries a marker-scrawl at the bottom: 'Bank of the rajakars' referring
to the collaborators with Pakistan in the 1971 liberation war.

There is no doubt
that across the country, Jamaat-e-Islami leaders are scared. An overwhelming
number of those under trial, accused of war crimes in 1971 are from this party
and the Awami League government is only too happy to let 'the people' vent
their collective ire against an important ally of the opposition Bangladesh
Nationalist Party.

Conflated with the
Shahbagh protestors' demand for a ban on the 'Pakistani party' and their
leaders be punished with death for war crimes is their wish that Bangladesh be
rid of religious fundamentalism. The past and the present combine in this
demand to not become 'another Pakistan'.

So how brittle is
the Jamaat today? The Islamist party was banned when Bangladesh was formed in 1971 for
opposing the creation of the country. It returned to parliamentary politics in 1978
with little impact. In 2001, it won 18 parliamentary seats riding piggyback on
the BNP. Some experts point out that it was the BNP that was doing the
piggybacking on the Jamaat. In 2008, it won only two seats.

But the Jamaat, not
unlike the Shiv Sena in India,
looms disproportionately over Bangladeshi politics. A banner near the Shahid
Minar that commemorates those killed during the Bengali Language movement in 1951
lists the number of institutions the Jamaat is allegedly linked with. These
include banks, real estate companies, educational and health institutions, transportation
companies, coaching centres and even a tourist and travel company, Keari
Tourism, with its own cruises and holiday packages. The banner demands the
boycott of these 'Islamist-owned' institutions that "provide the Jamaat
directly and indirectly" with funds.

Unpleasant truths

Over a plate
brimming with rice and what seems like a nursery of hilsa cooked in mustard, I
listen to Neamat Imam, playwright and author of The Black Coat, his forthcoming
novel that deals with an 'unpleasant truth' of Bangladeshi history dealing with
the rule of the country's 'founding father' Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Imam is
certainly no apologist of the Jamaat or religion-based politics. Pointing at
his Chinese wife sitting next to him, he says, "I certainly don't want her
to be covered from head to toe in a hijab and looking out of a slit every time
we come to Bangladesh!"

But he explains why
the Jamaat is not as universally despised as it may seem from Dhaka's
Shahbagh. "Conservative Bangladeshis are certainly not Islamists or Jamaat
supporters. But many of them do see organisations such as the Islamist banks
and educational institutions as being run by 'good Muslims'," says Imam, an
expatriate Bangladeshi in his late-30s, who is visiting 'home' after he left it
in 1995 under dire financial and creative conditions.

"Also, apart
from being considered clean, unlike the corruption rife in other political
parties including in the ruling Awami League, the Jamaat serves an important
social function in many parts of Bangladesh that can't be discounted." Only
a couple of days before, I had heard Asif Saleh, director with the development
organisation BRAC and a strident critic of the Jamaat, compare the Islamist
party with the Hamas in Palestine, with its strong roots in social service.

"Frankly, I
don't think much will come of it," Imam tells me about the Shahbagh
movement. "The demands made are in line with what the government in power
wants. What do you think will happen if the government does not agree with some
of the people's demands at some point? In China, each year the government
supports popular protests against Japanese atrocities in the war. We all know
what happens when there are popular protests against the Communist Party of
China."

Rifat Munim, in his
late-20s, heads the English newspaper Daily Star's book publishing division. His
father Abul Khair, a retired college teacher in Bagerhat in Khulna, has always been a secular Muslim and
a strong supporter of the 1971 freedom movement. But he conducts business with
the Jamaat-affiliated Islami Bank. "I've explained to him - you're
providing support to an Islamist party bent on changing the Bangladesh you
love. But he's adamant, saying that he wants to put his money in a bank that
works according to the tenets of Islam," says Munim shaking his head.

Charred Pages

Last Saturday, I
had visited the Dhaka Book Fair. I was taken aback by the utter energy and
focus that people had while buying books - novels, non-fiction books and
translated works - instead of zoning in on food stalls and buying text books
and colouring books for their kids.

Today, I read about
a fire breaking out in the fair grounds on late Sunday night, gutting at least 25
stalls. The suspected cause was a short-circuit. The effect, in a churning, electric
Dhaka, is nothing short of tragic.